Tiny webcasts for lecture(r)s

Are you a lecturer and interested in not only providing your presentation slides online, but an audio recording as well? Would you like to have small file sizes, let’s say 20–30 MB per hour recorded webcast? Would you be willing to accept a few restrictions, such as no mouse pointer and no HD audio quality? Than we might have something for you.

Note

Interested in a real-world example? A (growing) series of webcasts introducing “Tiny Webcasts” created with – well, you will guess it – “Tiny Webcasts” is now available.

Features

  • Webcasts: slide shows with audio recording

  • Small file size: approx. 20–30 MB per hour (50–70 kbit/s)

  • Tool chain consisting exclusively of open source programs

  • Slides separated from audio: perfect for fixing typos, changing slide layout and alike

  • Open source, free of charge

  • Docker image available (including support for the Windows platform)

In a nutshell

To create webcasts, there is only a few simple steps:

  • Create your presentation (slide show) and convert it into PDF format

  • Record the audio for your presentation

  • Cut the audio trace in pieces, one file per slide

  • Run the “twc” command-line program provided with this project

  • Upload and share your final webcast

Eventually, “Tiny Webcasts” is both, a command-line tool helping you to create tiny webcasts, and a list of tips and tricks, of best practices, to record webcasts and to help you focus on your teaching, not the underlying technique.

Installation

The command-line tool used to create the webcasts can be obtained from GitHub.

There are now two options available for installing the “Tiny Webcasts” command-line tool:

  • Docker image

    requires docker locally installed on your machine, preferred way for Windows (and macOS) users.

  • Direct install

    available for Linux and macOS, makes it necessary to install all the requirements

Note

We highly recommend to use the Docker image provided. This only requires Docker to be installed on your computer and is the preferred way for Windows users.

Have a look at how to install Tiny Webcasts (the command-line tool) for your operating system.

Where to start

Still unsure whether this is something for you? See the Who’s the audience? section. Ready to start? Have a look at the requirements necessary to get started. And finally, have a look at the workflow for creating webcasts.

Those new to audacity but interested in using it may have a look at the short introduction to audacity. And those already familiar but in need of a quick reminder how to create the webcasts may visit the quick reference.

Have fun and share your knowledge!

Examples

A few examples of lecture webcasts created with the workflow described here can be found on the website of one of the authors. The lectures are currently in German only.

A (growing) series of webcasts introducing Tiny Webcasts created with – well, you will guess it – “Tiny Webcasts” is now as well available, but this time in English. Look at the respective page in this documentation.